ABOUT THE SPEAKERS

Joel Stewart (Discussion Leader) works exclusively in the area of immigration law. Joel Stewart has joined the Immigration Practice Group of the law firm of Fowler White Boggs as Of Counsel in the Firm's Fort Lauderdale office. Joel Stewart is the editor and author of THE PERM BOOK. He is Past President of the South Florida Chapter of the American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA) and is a nationally recognized authority on employment-based immigration matters and a popular speaker at immigration seminars for national and local bar associations throughout the United States. Mr. Stewart has been writing the BALCA Case Summaries for AILA and Immigration Law Today since 1987 and authors official AILA articles and publications such as the Visa Processing Guide for Procedures at U.S. Consulates and Embassies in Brazil and Portugal. Mr. Stewart writes weekly columns Brazilian newspapers and serves as in-house Counsel for the Brazilian Consulate in Miami, Florida.

Edwin Rubin (Co-Discussion Leader) practice is limited to immigration and nationality law with special emphasis on corporate and employment based immigration matters. Mr. Rubin's practice has been limited to immigration and nationality matters for over 32 years. He served as National President of the American Immigration Lawyer's Association (AILA) in 1990-91 and has been a member of AILA's Board of Governors since 1982. He served as AILA Chapter Chair in both Philadelphia and New Jersey. Mr. Rubin is currently Vice President of the New Jersey Immigration Policy Network, Inc. He was Senior Editor of and Contributing Author to, "Immigration & Nationality Law," AILA, (two volumes annually), 1985-1990 and has been Editor Emeritus since 1990. He was appointed by the U.S. Secretary of Labor to serve two terms as one of the sixteen members of the Federal Advisory Committee on the Immigration Nursing Relief Act of 1989. He was the 1993 recipient of AILA's Edith Lowenstein Memorial Award for Excellence in Advancing the Administrative Practice of Immigration Law and recipient of the 2001 AILA Mentor Award. He established the AILA Mentor program during his term as AILA President. Mr. Rubin is a frequent author and lecturer on immigration issues. He is listed in the "Martindale-Hubbell Bar Register of Preeminent Lawyers", "Best Lawyers in America", "An International Who's Who of Corporate Immigration Lawyers (where he was rated as one of the top 23 immigration lawyers in the U.S.)" and "Superlawyers".

Lorna Burgess practices business immigration law as a sole practitioner from offices in Southwestern Colorado. Admitted to the Colorado and Utah Bars, she graduated from Williams College with Honors in Religion and the University of Colorado School of Law Order of the Coif. Ms. Burgess served as a law clerk to Judge Richard P. Matsch in the U.S. District of Colorado. A member of AILA for more than 25 years, Ms. Burgess was founder and past chair of the Utah Chapter. She has authored several articles and taught many seminars in the field. She is listed in Best Lawyers in America and the International Who's Who.

Christina LaBrie is an Of Counsel attorney in Fragomenís Professional Practices group. Fragomen Professional Practices monitors and reports on immigration law developments, provides guidance and input on complex legal issues, assists with direct case intervention via agencies or Congress, conducts legal trainings and provides input into both legislative and regulatory initiatives. In addition to its information dissemination on the U.S. side, the group provides global client alerts and country summaries. Fragomen Professional Practices also monitors state law developments and assesses the impact on client companies.
Christina is admitted to the New York State Bar; U.S. District Courts for the Southern and Eastern Districts of New York; U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit; and U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. Prior to joining Fragomen, she practiced immigration law in New York for several years and handled a wide range of matters from removal proceedings to large corporate accounts. Christina has published numerous articles with various immigration-related publications and organizations including AILA and ILW.com.

Michael Piston is the senior partner in Piston & Carpenter PC in Troy, Michigan. He has practiced immigration law exclusively for over 20 years, and has spoken at numerous American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA) and ILW.COM conferences and workshops as well as writing articles for AILA Annual Conferences Handbooks and ILW PERM Handbooks. With four attorneys practicing exclusively in the field of immigration and nationality law, the Piston Group provides its clients with focused and in-depth representation in business immigration matters. The firm was founded in 1985 by Michael E. Piston, since that time, the firm has processed over 5,000 applications for U.S. permanent residence based upon employment and over 10,000 immigrant employment visas.

David Ware has practiced immigration law since 1981 and has 29 years of experience in representing universities and their students, faculty, and staff, as well as companies and individuals. His firm is one of only a handful in the nation with a consistent focus on academia, while also handling business, family, removal, asylum, and nationality cases. He has for many years been selected to the Bar Register of Preeminent Lawyers, and has been selected as one of the Best Lawyers in America since 2000. For ten years, Mr. Ware has been selected as among the top immigration attorneys in Louisiana by New Orleans Magazine, and in 2005 and 2008, City Business Magazine selected him as one of the top 50 "Leaders in Law" in Louisiana, the only immigration attorney so chosen. In 2008, he was elected to Who's Who International's Top Corporate Immigration Attorneys - one of only 300 in the US and the only in Louisiana. Mr. Ware is a recognized leader among immigration attorneys in practice areas of interest to universities, and he currently serves as a mentor in these areas for other immigration attorneys through AILA. He has been active in NAFSA since 1985. In addition to holding several AILA and NAFSA leadership positions, he has received numerous awards for outstanding service to NAFSA. His firm is one of only three NAFSA Global Law Firm Advocates. He regularly serves as an expert speaker at both AILA and NAFSA national and regional conferences, and at the meetings of other academically-oriented organizations such as NACE and CUPA.

Nathan Waxman has been an active member of AILA since1985 and is admitted to the bar in Illinois and New York. He has written more than 20 peer-reviewed articles and book chapters on aspects of immigration law. Nathan has been a leader in National Interest Waiver (NIW) analysis and advocacy since the 1990s. He has written extensively on the National Interest Waiver since 1996, and wrote the first commentary and critique on the New York State Department of Transportation (NYSDOT) precedent decision. He has successfully represented businesses ranging from Fortune 500 corporations to universities to nonprofit foundations, family-owned businesses, and self-employed musicians, artists, physicians and alternative medicine practitioners. Nathanís representation of some of the pioneering IT contractors in the 1980s and 1990s facilitated the expansion of the IT consulting industry from its modest role 25 years ago to its critical place today in every sector of American business, governmental and academic activities. He has participated actively in the evolution of the labor certification process for the past 25 years. He contributed to AILAís comment on PERM regulations proposed in 2004, specifically with regard to the critical issue of the permissibility of requiring experience gained with the sponsoring employer in an alternative occupational category. Primarily as a result of AILAís comment, experience in alternative occupations with the sponsoring employer was retained in the PERM labor certification regulations, to the benefit of employers and intending immigrants throughout the country.

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